Hotel Charlotte was a 13-story hotel in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, which opened in 1929. It was on the corner of Trade Street and Poplar Street in the Uptown area of Charlotte. While primarily known by the name "Hotel Charlotte", it also operated under the names "Queen Charlotte Hotel" and "White House Inn." It closed on December 31, 1973. It was designed by

William Lee Stoddart William Lee Stoddart (1868–1940) was an architect who designed urban hotels in the Eastern United States. Although he was born in Tenafly, New Jersey, most of his commissions were in the South. He maintained offices in Atlanta and New York ...

and was a steel-frame building sheathed with sections of gray

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and a buff-colored brick. It housed 250 guest rooms. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on July 2, 1979. In the years following its closure, attempts were made to find developers who could rehabilitate and preserve the structure. However, as the building languished, it was severely vandalized and much of its interior plumbing and wiring stolen by looters. Hotel Charlotte was imploded on November 6, 1988.

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

used the implosion as the setting for his escape in the TV special ''The Explosive Encounter''. A restaurant of the same name was created in its honor and reused many interior pieces from the original hotel. The restaurant ceased operations on January 29, 2011.After 31 years, Hotel Charlotte packs it in

References

External links

Video of the implosion
Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Hotel buildings completed in 1924 Hotels in Charlotte, North Carolina Hotel Charlotte Hotel Charlotte Hotels established in 1924 Buildings and structures demolished in 1988 Skyscraper hotels in Charlotte, North Carolina Hotel Charlotte Demolished buildings and structures in North Carolina Demolished hotels in the United States Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion 1924 establishments in North Carolina 1973 disestablishments in North Carolina {{MecklenburgCountyNC-NRHP-stub